Friday, July 9, 2010

Are We Entering the Age of Augmented Trademark Infringement? -- about "the leak in your home town"

The use of logos or insignias to symbolize a product, service or company is one of the oldest ways for a brand to stand out from competitors and similar products. These days, laws protect the misuse or copying of trademarked brand logos, but as technology evolves and companies find new ways to market their brands, these laws must adapt to cover new possibilities for infringement.

Augmented reality is a popular technology for new media advertising, allowing images, logos and markers to become triggers for 3D experiences on computers and mobile devices. It also could create 21st century legal dilemmas. Who has the right to create AR experiences from trademarked brand logos? Is the age of "augmented reality trademark infringement" rapidly approaching?

Consider a new application being developed in reaction to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The iPhone app - which is still in development - is called "the leak in your hometown," and will let users augment any existing real-world British Petroleum (BP) logo with a virtually rendered oil pipe that is gushing with oil. The app developers, Mark Skwarek and Joseph Hocking, in their own words describe the app as "turning [BP's] own logo against them."full story here